学术英语理工 2013-2014-2
Unit 4 Writing a Literature Review I. Teaching Objectives
In this unit, you will learn how to:
1.write a self-contained literature review
2.write a literature review as a part of an essay 3.cite sources by correct quotation and paragraphs
4.give the appropriate documentation to the source you use 5.avoid different kinds of plagiarism 6.identify common knowledge 7.acquire paraphrasing skills
8.enhance language skills related with reading and listening material presented in this unit
II. Teaching Procedures
1 Writing a literature review
Task 1
1 The four articles were published right after the Fukushima disaster in Japan and all addressed the topic of potential risks of nuclear radiation.
2 Radiation is not so terrible as expected and human beings are exposed to different sources of radiation every day. Whether it will endanger human health or not depends on the duration and strength of radiation exposure.
3 Amber Cornelio holds a different attitude from the other three authors. He believes that radiation exposure will certainly raise the risk of getting cancer and government officials downplay its potential danger to justify its use of nuclear power. 4 Answers may vary.
5 It seems that Text 11, 12, 14 provide more scientific facts about nuclear radiation than Text 13 which is more emotionally charged by using many rhetorical questions and phrases like “I am simply floored”, “let officials be oblivious”, “not to be outdone”, “Do not tell us about that”. Hence it appears less reliable and trustworthy.
Task 2
Compared with uranium which the production of conventional nuclear power needs, there is more lithium in the sea water which can support 30 million years’ fusion fuel.
Task 3
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学术英语理工 2013-2014-2
1 Review the previous related studies 2 State the previous studies’ limitation
3 Announce the direction for further studies
2 Writing a self-contained literature review
Task 1
1 Stigmatization, a kind of social rejection, is big challenge to the mentally ill. They are rejected by people because of the label they carry or that their behaviors indicate that they belong to a certain labeled group.
2 To report the past studies of the topic. Studies have proved that stigmatization of the mentally ill is caused by the public’s belief in myths about the dangerousness of the mentally ill and exposing those myths can reduce stigmatization. 3 Three articles.
4 Pescosolido & Tuch (2000) thought that a common respond to the mentally ill are rejection and fear of violence. Another article concluded that rejection and fear are caused by less contact with mentally ill. Alexander and Link (2003) found that any type of contact with mentally ill individuals reduced perceptions of dangerousness of the target.
5 1) What are major causes for the rejection and fear, and can they be reduced? 2) This finding is verified by Alexander and Link (2003).
Task 2 Text 11
Title: Risks of Nuclear Power Author(s): Bernard L. Cohen
Source: http://www.physics.isu.edu.
Summary: Radiation from nuclear power is feared to have the potential of causing a cancer or some genetic diseases. This fear, however, is dismissed by Cohen after he compares artificial radiation and the radiation that occurs naturally in our environment, analyzing their respective impact on human health. Cohen separately discusses the different sources of nuclear power risks and arrives at the following conclusions: 1) the probability of real reactor accidents, with the safety system of defense in depth, are extremely small; 2) radioactive waste, if properly handled, causes negligible damage; 3) other radiation problems, such as accidents in transportation or radon exposures in mining, are also not so threatening as they seem to be. In summary he believes that radiation due to nuclear power will cause much fewer cancers and deaths than coal burning. (130 words)
Text 12
Title: How Radiation Threatens Health Author(s): Nina Bai
Source: Scientific American Summary: Nina Bai addresses the widespread concerns over the health effects of radiation exposure in the wake of Fukushima nuclear crisis. She discusses three determinative factors: the
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学术英语理工 2013-2014-2
level, type and duration of radiation exposure. First, radiation sickness usually occurs when there is excessive dose of exposure, though the limits of radiation level differ for the general public, radiation workers, and patients going through medical radiation. Second, of the four types of ionizing radiation, gamma, X-ray, alpha, and beta, the latter two, albeit being lower energy, are more likely to cause health damage. Third, a very high single dose of radiation can be more harmful than the same dosage accumulated over time. Finally, Bai draws on the lesson of Chernobyl, and concludes radiation exposure within reasonable limit is not so fearful and it is good to exercise caution. (136 words) Text 13
Title: Should Nuclear Radiation Found in Domestic Milk Come as a Surprise? Author(s): Amber Cornelio Source: http://www. allvoices.com Summary: Amber Cornelio (2011) maintains that radiation from Japan’s Fukushima disaster has threatened the daily life of ordinary Americans. He challenges the government’s view that radioactive materials detected in domestic milk, vegetables and rainwater will pose no public health concern. He suspects that the government is downplaying the potential dangers of radiation to justify its use of nuclear power. He believes the government has failed to do the job of protecting people. In the end, he urges the government to be more responsible and stop building power plants on a faulty line. He warns that covering up the facts is not the key to avoid similar disasters in the future. (108 words) 66
Text 14
Title: Radiation and Health: The Aftershocks of Japan’s Nuclear Disaster Author(s): Susan Blumenthal Source: http://www. huffingtonpost.com
Summary: Susan Blumenthal (2011) aims to inform people of nuclear radiation with scientific facts. She starts the essay with a reference to the worldwide spread of fear in the wake of Fukushima disaster and then explains what radiation is. The explanation is followed by a report of different types of radioactive materials released into the air. She goes on to tell that an exposure to those materials will increase the risks of some major diseases. However, she concedes radiation is not so menacing as was assumed and humans are exposed to naturally occurring radiation every day. Whether radiation is harmful to health or not depends on two contexts: the duration and strength of the exposure. She warns that exposure to high doses of radiation can lead to acute health problems. Long-term low dose exposure to radiation is equally fatal. (137words)
Task 3
The release of substantial amounts of radiation into the atmosphere from Fukushima nuclear plant has triggered widespread concerns over the use of nuclear power and the health effects of radiation exposure. Since the Chernobyl disaster, especially the Fukushima nuclear crisis, many scientists and scholars have attempted to estimate the effect of nuclear radiation on human health. Cohen (2011) believes the fear that nuclear radiation will cause a cancer or other genetic diseases is unnecessary. He made a detailed analysis of the effects of accidents in nuclear power plants,
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学术英语理工 2013-2014-2
accidents in transporting radioactive materials and escape of radioactive wastes from confinement systems on human health by comparing the effects of coal burning. Cohen arrived at the following conclusions: nuclear radiation, if properly handled, causes negligible damage and much fewer deaths than coal burning. Cohen’s idea is shared by Bai (2011). Bai discussed three determinative factors: the level, type and duration of radiation exposure. She found that radiation sickness usually occurs only when there is excessive dose of exposure. Second, of the four types of ionizing radiation, gamma, X-ray, alpha, and beta, the latter two are more likely to cause health damage. Third, a very high single dose of radiation can be more harmful than the same dosage accumulated over time. Bai concluded that radiation exposure within reasonable limit is not so fearful and it is good to exercise caution. Blumenthal (2011) did similar research. She examined different types of radioactive materials released into the air. She found that an exposure to those materials would increase the risks of some major diseases. However, the radiation is not somenacing as was assumed as humans are exposed to naturally occurring radiation every day. She believes that whether radiation is harmful to health or not depends on two contexts: the duration and strength of the exposure. Only exposure to high doses of radiation or long-term low dose exposure could lead to acute health problems.
Contrary to the three scholars, however, Cornelio (2011) maintained that radiation from Japan’s Fukushima disaster threatened the daily life of ordinary Americans. He challenges the government’s view that radioactive materials detected in domestic milk, vegetables and rainwater will pose no public health concern. He suspects that the government is downplaying the potential dangers of radiation to justify its use of nuclear power. Hence he urges the government to be more responsible and stop building power plants on a faulty line.
3 Writing a literature review as a part of an essay
Task 1
1 Content-based instruction (CBI) is an alternative approach to teaching English. In such an approach, language teaching is integrated within discipline-specific content courses. The major goal is to equip students with academic literacy skills across the curriculum. CBI has gained wide acceptance in U.S. undergraduate institutions.
2 Numerous research studies demonstrate consistently that content-based second language teaching promotes both language acquisition and academic success. 3 More than 10 articles.
4 The literature on CBI has focused mainly on its most immediate effects, i.e., the outcomes of one or two semesters in which content-based instruction was provided. Studies on the sustained or long-term benefits of content-based language instruction are scarce.
5 The writer plans to study how will CBI impact students’ future performance both in terms of academic courses and English proficiency.
Task 2
Nuclear Radiation and Its Long-Term Health Effect
There is a constant controversy as to the application of nuclear power and risks from nuclear radiation ever since the Chernobyl disaster. Especially the release of substantial amounts of
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学术英语理工 2013-2014-2
radiation into the atmosphere from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2010 has triggered the widespread fear and concerns over risks of radiation leaks, radiation exposure, and their impact on people’s health. The commonsensical and intuitive response of the public is that nuclear radiation is most likely to cause a cancer or genetic diseases. Many researchers, however, assured the public that there is no substantial danger as assumed, and nuclear power is not as fearful or menacing as it seems to be. Cohen (2011), Blumenthal (2011) and Bai (2011), for example, cited numerical evidence and resorted to scientific facts to illustrate that a certain level of nuclear radiation risks won’t pose real danger if handled properly with the current technology available or by following the prescribed rules. They do admit the possibility of radiation initiating certain kinds of diseases, though. Only exposure to high doses of radiation or long-term low dose exposure could lead to acute health problems (Bai 2011). Nevertheless, not everyone agrees. Cornelio (2011), on the other hand, holds that nuclear radiation is most likely to threaten people’s health by contaminating milk, vegetables, and rainwater.
The literature on the relationship between radiation and health largely focused on the manageability of nuclear risks and played down the damage that nuclear radiation is likely to cause. The researches generally took a detour as to whether there is any solid evidence to bear out the long-term health impact of nuclear radiation. There needs to be more well-grounded studies on the correlation between radiation and health, and on the possible long-term health effects in order to address the concerns of the general public. Besides, we also need to answer questions like “Why is there a disparity between the commonsensical feeling of the public and the explication offered by experts concerning nuclear radiation and health?”, “Are scientists biased and use the facts and statistics to their favor?” and “Is there a long-term negative health impact if one takes moderate doses of nuclear contaminated food over a long period?”
Task 3
Answers may vary.
Task 4
Answers may vary.
4 Citation
Task 1 Order Name and date Quotation Paraphrase
Newell and Simon (1972) 1 √ Feigenbaum and Feldman (1963) 2 √ Polya (1945) 3 √ Minsky (1968) 4 √
Task 2
Technology plays an ever important role in the making discoveries. Throughout scientific history, many discoveries have been made because of the application of more sophisticated devises and equipment. For example, Galileo’s great discovery was attributed to the improvement
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学术英语课后答案 unit4
